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Informationen zum Autor Iain Brassington is lecturer in Bioethics at the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy and the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester. Klappentext This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. The field of biotechnology has provided us with radical revisions and reappraisals of the nature and possibilities of our biological existence. Yet beyond its immediate utility, does a life that is healthier, longer, or freer from disease make us 'better' or more moral people? Bioscience and the Good Life explores the complex relationship between modern biosciences and human flourishing, their sympathies and schisms, and the instances of their reconciliation. Here cognitive enhancement, longevity, and the spectacle of excellence in sports, are examined within the context of what constitutes a life well lived. Framing biotechnological innovation in the discourse of duty and ethics, Brassington advances an insightful and involved response to the existing debates between bioscientific optimists and pessimists, one which mediates their differences, and expands the traditional scope of their arguments. Bioscience and the Good Life explores the relationship between bioscience and "the good life", drawing from the idea that the point of biomedical research is unavoidably tied to the idea of the good life. Zusammenfassung Biotechnology and the Good Life explores the relationship between bioscience and "thegood life", drawing from the idea that the point of biomedical research isunavoidably tied to the idea of the good life. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 The Good of Bioscience Understanding the good life Happiness and flourishing The importance of projects Function and the good life The reasonable expectation standard Rebooting the therapy/enhancement distinction Closing the distinction? The structure of this book 2 Bad Arguments against Better Lives Repugnance as a moral tool Nature and human nature Habermas ' future The argument from dignity A slight reprieve? The mythologization of the given Is enhancement permissible? 3 Must We Make Better People? John Harris ' argument for a duty to enhance Harris ' argument Why would enhancement be a duty? Beneficence and duties to enhance What is enhancement? What is ' acceptable ' ? A duty to enhance? 4 Sex, Death and Cabbages: A Defence of Mortality Defending against death Avoiding deaths and saving lives What ' s wrong with mortality(?) Why not be immortal? Self-inflicted boredom? Filling a life, and the LOT revisited Mortality and the good life The boon of mortality 5 Designs for Life Enhancement in sport The character of the sport Becoming a blade-runner On me, not in me Other objections Body modification and the good life 6 Thinking Better about Better Thinking Enhancing memory Out of our heads Criminal detection: A duty to remember? Memory and absentmindedness Enhancing processing The argument from alienation The social benefits of cognitive enhancement The benefits of distraction Alienation revisited The case for cognitive enhancement: Not wholly proven 7 Good Is as Good Does? The Case of ' Moral Enhancement ' The possibility of ' moral enhancement ' Strategies for moral enhancement The argument from freedom Freedom and options Nicomachean moral enhancement Rebuilding the argument from freedom The argument from reasonable disagreement Enhancing moral reasoning Is moral enhancement desirable anyway? 8 Bioscience and the Duty to Research, Part 1: Ways to Make Life Better Is there a duty of ...
